A dejected looking sophomore shuffled forward weakly, advancing his place in the crowded cafeteria line. Today was his first day at Greenlands High School and he hadn’t met anyone yet with whom he felt remotely comfortable. The school seemed to be made up entirely of strapping farm boys and, for lack of a better word, floozies. He was an average guy in most ways, totally unremarkable and able to blend in at most venues, but here he simply stuck out like his hair was on fire. He was easily a head shorter than every other guy in his class, to say nothing of his lithe, unassuming frame that left him almost comically eclipsed by his new peers. Even his grubby gamer attire only served to further set him apart from the rest of the flannel parade.
Reaching the front of the line he robotically grabbed a tray and noted that all the guys ahead of him had grabbed two cartons of milk from the cold chest by the door. He wasn’t a milk drinker himself, so he passed it by hoping to find other options farther down the line.
“Beef or Pork?” The portly lunch lady behind the counter recited flatly.
“Oh, uh… Do you have just like, a salad?” He asked.
“Breaded Chicken salad, sure… Did you request one this morning? Those need to be requested special during attendance.” She replied.
“Oh, I didn’t know that. I’m new… Can it come without the chicken, I’m Vegan.” He continued shyly.
“It comes with the chicken, but you can pick it off, no problem. You’ll have to make sure to order it next time, would you like the Beef?” She said, surprisingly warmly in spite of her continued accommodation shortfalls.
“No thanks.” He said with an uneasy smile.
She nodded and grabbed his tray, heaping a pair of greasy pork chops haphazardly over the general area of its largest partition, along with a pile of mashed potatoes that she slathered in brown gravy from the pork chop tray. Then she passed the tray to the woman beside her who ladled on a sad looking wet scoop of sickly pale string beans before the last woman in the lineup placed a delicious looking piece of sheet cake in the tray’s final space.
“There isn’t any butter in the vegetables or the cake, is there?” He asked hopefully.
“No butter sweety.” She replied proudly. “Just the same lard we always use.”
“Thanks.” He muttered as he took the tray back, his stomach turning at the sight of the violated potatoes and tainted beans and cake, lamenting the fact that they had been adulterated by animal products and rendered, at least for him, inedible.
As he left the line, he gazed around the room of homogeneously grouped farm boys and bimbos for an isolated table that he could call his own, but to his surprise his eyes landed on something that might have been even better! Off in the corner of the room, there was a brooding young woman wearing all black. She had strikingly dark makeup and all kinds of bracelets and peculiar fishnet-like fabrics accenting her uniquely gothic look. He excitedly started making his way towards her, captivated by the prospect of another ‘outsider’ to talk to when suddenly a pair of the cheerleader-like girls popped in front of his path.
“Hey there, cutie! You’re new, right?” She asked with bubbly energy, slightly shaking her goods enticingly. “I’m Millie-Mae and this is Summer.”
“Hi... Uh, yeah... First day.” He replied distractedly, trying to continue past them undeterred.
“Now hold on sugar, we just wanna talk.” She continued in the country accent of the area. “Do you farm sugar corn, or sugar beets?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. I just saw that girl sitting alone over there and I’d really like to join her.”
“Oh, Liana keeps to herself, sugar. No need to bother with her... Say, what sports do you play?” She continued with forceful interest, wrapping herself around him seductively and pulling him close.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d still like to meet her, but we can definitely talk later, Millie.” He said, oblivious to her advances. He’d been asked that same line of questions by everyone he’d met all morning and he was too exhausted to maintain a pleasant facade when he could be talking to someone genuinely interesting, so he broke away from her without giving much thought to politeness and quickly strode across the room toward the mystery girl.
“It’s Millie-Mae.” She cried out behind him.
-------------------
“Hi.” He said dumbly as he arrived at the Goth Girl’s table.
“Oh, hey there darlin’.” She said, looking up from the table with a vacant expression. “You’re new ain’t ‘cha? Do you farm sugar beets or sugar corn?”
His face instantly betrayed his shock and disappointment as he stumbled over his words trying to remember his script of canned responses.
“I’m just kidding!” She said, rolling her eyes. “I’ve been waiting to get a chance to talk to you all day, but I couldn’t resist having a little fun. Have a seat.”
“That’s not funny.” He insisted with relief as he slid into the bench attached to the table. “You don’t know what it’s been like today. Everybody acts so weird; they have the same interests and all they want to talk about is farming, sports and podunk hick crap.”
“Oh, I have more than an inkling of what you’ve been through; I promise you.” She said exaggeratedly. “I’ve been here since the start of the year and I haven't had ANYONE to talk to intelligently since… Well, never mind since when, but it’s been a long time...”
“So what do you do for fun?” He asked, genuinely hoping she could offer some excitement.
“Nothing.” She said flatly. “Absolutely nothing… This town has nothing on offer besides sports and farming. I mean, I can’t even go shopping in this town! There’s no mall, and the only store that sells clothes is the tractor supply warehouse! You think I wanna dress like this with the "fish nets" and the "black everything"? No! The goth stuff was a really short phase for me, but I’m stuck with it until I can get out of here… Unless I want to assimilate into the crowd and start wearing sun dresses and mini skirts… Seriously, do not wear your clothes out or you’ll be wearing boot-cut jeans and flannel like a ‘real man’ before you know it.”
“Yikes.” He replied uncomfortably. “I didn't realize it was that bad… I mean, I went to the store yesterday to buy new shoes and they didn’t have anything in my size. They looked at me like I was crazy trying to buy size 9, they thought I was talking about kids sizes! Their smallest adult shoe was 12! But it’s not so bad, I figured I’d just order some online.”
“Good luck with that. There’s no good internet service in town. Even cell phones only get talk and text...”
“I know, my dad was talking about getting satellite internet, so we’ll be alright once that’s installed.”
“Nope.” She said, shaking her head. “Village ordinance 108.10 forbids satellite installations of any kind besides those used for tractor guidance systems.”
“What?!!! That’s insane!” He yelled with shock.
“I know, and nobody even cares. These people are practically Amish.” She said with disgust.
“So, why do you live here?” He asked bluntly with a smile.
“My Dad’s the superintendent.” She admitted with a shrug.
“So like, the principle?”
“Yeah, except nobody’s quite sure what he actually does for the school… but he’s why I’m stuck here. How about you?”
“My Dad’s an author.” He replied. ”I mean He’s an aspiring author… He’s trying to get away from it all.”
“Well he’s definitely in the right place for that… My name’s Liana Byrd by the way.”
“I’m… Uh… Wembly… Wembly Whittle.” He said uncomfortably, rolling his eyes with unease.
“That’s cute.” She said warmly. “I like unique names… Seems like everyone here is named Damon or Ty.”
“Thanks.” He said, starting to blush. “My Dad’s kind of a nerd… He collects vintage neckties… Ugly polyester ones… Wembly is his, uh… His favorite brand.”
“I like it, Wembly. It suits you.”
“Thanks.”
“Not gonna eat your lunch?” She asked, noticing he hadn’t touched his food.
“I can’t. I’m Vegan.” He said with exasperation. “I think I’ll need to bring a sack lunch from now on.”
“That would definitely be the safe way to go. I don’t think people around here really know what Vegan means. I tried to go Vegan for a few months and when I told people about it they thought I was saying that I worshiped the devil as a witch… I think they were confusing Vegan with Wiccan, which they also clearly know nothing about.”
“Good lord. What’s with these people?”
“I think about that all the time…” She said, growing serious. “I mean… They’re just simple country folk… All cut from the same cloth. They don’t have access to many outside influences like entertainment and culture… The curriculum here is geared mostly toward farming… But still… I don’t know… Everyone is SO similar.”
“That’s true about the curriculum, the only science class I could sign up for was agricultural science. We watched an instructional video on the calf birthing process this morning and -”
“Hold on.” She interjected, looking around the room with a hint of paranoid edge. “I know this is going to sound crazy, and I know we just met so I’m taking a real chance talking about this, but I can’t let you go around not knowing… I think something is going on in this school. Something is changing people!”
She looked him straight in the eye probing his reaction while he returned a look of uncertain curiosity. She Had been a bit of a jokester from the start so he couldn't be convinced of her sincerity now.
“I’m serious.” She assured him as she continued. “When I started here I actually did have a couple of friends; Shane and Olivia. They were practically the only other two normal people in town but over time they changed to be just like the others. Shane was the first to go… He just started taking an unnatural interest in sports and farming with his folks. It was so unlike him. He was a nerdy bookworm and… gay! Then all of a sudden he was getting all lumpy and muscular and butch. He started hitting on Olivia who always secretly had a crush on him so even though he wasn’t being himself, she couldn’t resist and... She changed too...”
“Ok… You got me… Aren’t we a little old for these kinds of stories?” Wembly said, rolling his eyes with a chuckle.
“I mean it, Wembly. Something is changing people and I’m worried you might be susceptible… I’ve been here for months and it hasn’t happened to me, but I don’t know if things will be different for you… I don’t know how to avoid it. I don’t really even know what “it” is… You have to avoid participating in anything. It’s good that you won’t eat the food... Keep to yourself. Don’t take anything from anyone and don’t tell anyone that you know about Shane.”
“I’m not falling for it, Liana.” You tried to prank me when I first sat down, I’m not a moron.
“I admitted that was a joke right away.” She said seriously.
“That’s true.” Wembly conceded thoughtfully.
“What’s your next class?” She asked.
“Gym.” He replied in deep thought.
“Be careful in there. Don’t trust anyone and keep to yourself.”
“I’ll be alright. I’ve got a doctor’s note to get me out of gym participation.”
“GOOD. Don’t let them make you participate. If they pressure you or threaten you with detention, TAKE THE DETENTION. They have to let you sit out if you have a doctor's note so if they try anything shady I can get my dad to help.”
She looked frantically around the room again as the bell rang.
“I’m serious… Be careful. I don’t want to be alone again.”